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Thursday, January 03, 2013

City In Indonesia To Ban Motorbike Straddling By Women

So, we had a series of strange new laws come into effect in 2013 that made me chuckle, but the fatwas that come out of Sharia-run lands are always laugh out loud, some of them at least, some not so much.

The latest comes out of Banda Aceh, which is located in the northeastern region of the island of Sumatra in so-called moderate Indonesia. Aceh is anything but. That's the province that loves its Sharia. The stricter the better. The same place that shaved the mohawked-heads of punk rockers last year while they were detained for "rehabilitation". Not that the people themselves are happy about it, only about 10% of the population in Aceh actually want Sharia law, but that 10% get their way. So the not-so-religious find ways of skirting certain restrictions- like the law against getting too close to people of the opposite sex- by frequenting places like the 'Love Hotel", owned by the military and off-limits to the virtue and vice officials.

One of the latest laws has to do with motorbikes:

Women will no longer be allowed to straddle men on motorbikes because it's "improper", says Suaidi Yahya, the mayor of the city of Lhokseumawe, and because:

"it will provoke the male driver. It's also to protect women from an undesirable condition."

I'm wracking my brain on the latter.

It is, however, okay for a woman to sit "side-saddle" on the bike behind her man with legs dangling to the side, so they can get tangled in the wheels of the bike, and the couple can crash and die. And it's perfectly fine for women to straddle a bike if they're in the driver's seat, but only if they're wearing Islamic garb.

They haven't decided what the punishment will be for infractions.

Some of the other new laws the people can expect: no tight pants for women, adulterers can expect a stoning, and homosexuals a flogging. Welcome to Sharia.